Aer Lingus to cancel 80 more flights as dispute continues

Aer Lingus will cancel 80 more flights through the second half of next week, the carrier confirmed on Friday as the wait for a likely key Labour Court recommendation to end its pilots’ pay row continued.

Members of the Irish Airline Pilots’ Association (Ialpa), part of trade union Fórsa, are continuing industrial action at Aer Lingus in their pursuit of 20 per cent-plus pay rises.

The company said on Friday that it would cancel 80 flights from Thursday July 11th to the following Sunday “to protect as many services as possible” as while pilots continued to refuse over time and out of hours work.

The move brings to 548 the total number of flights that Aer Lingus has cancelled since Ialpa began industrial action last week, hitting around 90,000 passengers.

Aer Lingus has begun contacting affected customers, it said. The carrier will give them the option of changing flights for free or claiming cash or voucher refunds.

The Aer Lingus website ‘Travel Advisory’ page will also have up to the minute information on all the options, the company added.

The move comes two days after representatives of the company and Ialpa appeared before the Labour court for more than three hours on Wednesday.

They expect the court to issue a recommendation aimed at brokering peace at the airline, which had already cancelled 468 flights up to next Wednesday.

Both sides will have to agree to whatever proposals the Labour Court makes to resolve the row, as the body’s recommendations are not binding.

Association leader Capt Mark Tighe has already confirmed that the union’s members will vote on any recommendation.

The Labour Court used powers under industrial relations law to intervene in the dispute this week following the failure of various efforts to find a solution.

Pilots began a work-to-rule a week ago and halted work on Saturday for an eight-hour strike, during which 500 union members marched at Dublin Airport.

The association is seeking pay rises of more than 20 per cent to compensate members for inflation. The union says it moderated its position during talks and argues that it will take just €5 million a year to bridge the gap with Aer Lingus.

The airline says it cannot agree to increases greater than the 12.25 per cent awarded to cabin and ground crews without getting a deal on extra productivity and flexibility from the pilots.

Aer Lingus maintains that the impact on individual pilots will be “minimal”, but will allow it to operate more efficiently.